Table 1 Activities Categorized by WHO’s Six Building Blocks of Health Systems
Building Block | Function | Activity Component |
|---|---|---|
Health service delivery | Service availability | Infrastructure (Facility (number and distribution)) |
Health workforce availability | ||
Service utilization (inpatient and outpatient visits) | ||
General and specific service readiness | Infrastructure/ amenities | |
Supply/ equipment | ||
Standard precautions | ||
Laboratory tests (diagnostics) | ||
Medicines and commodities | ||
Staff and training (service standardization, program specific) | ||
Diagnostic skills and training (capacity standardization, program specific) | ||
Service quality | Service improvement (coverage, effectiveness, safety, patient-centeredness, timeliness) | |
Health workforce | Training, recruitment, and retainment | Human resources (HR) development plan |
Training | ||
HR performance and management | ||
Education | ||
Regulations (licensing and accreditation) | ||
HR production, recruitment, and data management | ||
Health information systems | Generation of population and facility-based data | Health survey |
Census | ||
Civil registration | ||
Disease management information system | ||
Health facility reporting | ||
Public health surveillance system | ||
Health system resource tracking | ||
capacity for analysis, synthesis, and validation of data | Public health threat response system | |
Performance tracking | ||
Monitoring and research | ||
Country, regional, and global data analysis | ||
Medical products, vaccines, and technologies | Access to essential medical products, vaccines, and technologies | Policy development (national policies, standards, guidelines, and regulations) for essential medicines, vaccines, and technology |
Procurement of essential medicines and vaccines | ||
Quality assessment of priority products | ||
Support for rational use of essential medicines, commodities, and equipment | ||
Technological assessments (stimulate development, testing and use of new products, tools, standards, and policy guidelines) | ||
Insurance coverage (% population covered, price and cost of medicine) | ||
Essential medicines (14 medicines) | ||
Health system financing | Financing | Collection of revenues (domestic and international funding sources) |
Risk pooling (benefit coverage and entitlement) | ||
Purchasing of services | ||
Leadership and Governance | Policy, Leadership, Governance | National policy and strategies, action plans (including disease/program specific ones) |
Accountability | ||
Working with external partners |